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Null Effect
THE SOURCE: “Was There Really a Hawthorne Effect at the Hawthorne Plant? An Analysis of the Original Illumination Experiments” by Steven D. Levitt and John A. List, in American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Jan. 2011.
In 1924 the National Research Council ran a now famous experiment at Western Electric’s Hawthorne plant in Cicero, Illinois. The researchers asked a simple question: Does better lighting make workers more productive? They were surprised by what they found. Productivity improved regardless of whether the lights were low or high.
The unexpected results gave rise to one of the key insights of modern psychology, later named the Hawthorne effect: Researchers can change the behavior of their subjects merely by studying them. More broadly, the mere fact of paying attention to people makes them more productive. The Hawthorne study helped usher in a whole field of research, called industrial psychology; influenced the shape of ideas about human relations and management; and shaped the fundamentals of experimental design.
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Tweeting Toward Freedom?
A Survey of Recent Articles: "After Revolt, Egyptians Try to Shape New Politics" by Neil MacFarquhar, from The New York Times (March 18, 2011); "Small Change" by Malcolm Gladwell, in The New Yorker (Oct. 4, 2010); "The Political Power of Social Media" by Clay Shirky, in Foreign Affairs (Jan.–Feb. 2011); "How Much Did Social Media contribute to Revolution in the Middle East?" by Evgeny Morozov, in Bookforum (April–May 2011); and "Freedom.gov" by Evgeny Morozov, in Foreign Policy (Jan.–Feb. 2011).Grand Strategy Revisited
THE SOURCE: “Imperial by Design” by John J. Mearsheimer, in The National Interest, Jan.–Feb. 2011.Learning From Al Qaeda
THE SOURCE: “Becoming the Enemy” by Stanley A. McChrystal, in Foreign Policy, March–April 2011.